BODY SIGNAL ALERT VOICE, CHANGES IN: DESCRIPTION AND POSSIBLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS
Teenage boys spend a lot of their time trying to control their cracking voices. And some men in their 70s and older discover that their voices start to change as well, becoming higher in pitch with a tremble that wasn’t there before.
This vocal change late in life is caused by the gradual weakening of the vocal cords. As a result, they allow more air to escape as you speak, resulting in a higher voice.
When an adult in midlife undergoes a change of voice, the cause is usually more serious, such as polyps or a tumor on the larynx. Cigarette smoking is the number one cause of voice changes in the midlife adult due to cancer of the larynx or lung. More men than women develop tumors of the larynx and lung; since cigarette smoking causes the majority of cases of cancer of the larynx, and for many years more men smoked than women, men have an unfair “advantage.”
Polyps and papillomae—a cluster of polyps—are two kinds of laryngeal tumors. Whether benign or malignant, any such tumor should be removed immediately and checked by your doctor.
In the elderly, neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s will also cause the voice to change. And the aging process tends to make the voice seem softer. In addition, a change in dentures or the loss of a tooth can cause the voice to change.
A very serious cause of voice change is lung cancer, especially when it spreads to the vocal cords.
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Tags: General health